September 2008 Tow Bitts_NB2.indd - Foss

Dawson Wins Carnegie Medal for
Risking Life to Save Captain
Curt Dawson, a Foss crewman who
helped save the life of Capt. David
Schmelzer after their tug capsized at
the Port of Astoria on Dec. 3, 2005,
recently was awarded a prestigious
Carnegie Medal for bravery.
Dawson was one of 26 individuals
from the United States and Canada
who were named recipients of the
medal, awarded to those who risk their
lives to an extraordinary degree while
saving or attempting to save the lives
of others. Seven awardees lost their
lives in the performance of their
rescue acts.
The heroes announced recently
bring to 48 the number of Carnegie
awards made to date in 2008 and
to 9,199 since the Pittsburgh-based
Fund’s inception in 1904. Each of the
awardees or their next of kin will also
receive a grant of $6,000.
Throughout the 104 years since the
Fund was established by industrialist-philanthropist
Andrew Carnegie,
$30.6 million has been given in onetime
grants, scholarship aid, death
benefits, and continuing assistance.
Dawson was at the top of the list of
recent awardees. Schmelzer, 67, was
the captain of the Foss tug Tiger, which
was towing a barge on the Columbia
River at night.
The tugboat capsized in the swift
ebb-tide current and floated upside
down and partially submerged.
Dawson, 47, assistant engineer, was
working as a deckhand on the barge
and witnessed the accident.
Minutes later, he saw Schmelzer,
unconscious, float toward the surface
of the water alongside the barge.
Although both the barge and the tugboat
were then adrift, Dawson, fully
attired, jumped five feet down into the
river, despite the coldness of the water
and limited visibility in the darkness.
He swam to Schmelzer, grasped
his jacket, and pulled his head above
water. Realizing that they were being
carried away from the barge, Dawson
Curt Dawson, with the Coast Guard Silver
Lifesaving Medal he received last year.
started to swim back to it, Schmelzer
in tow.
A deckhand threw a line to Dawson
and pulled the men to the side of the
barge. With another man holding him,
the deckhand leaned over the side of
the barge, grasped Schmelzer, and
with others worked with Dawson for
several minutes to try to lift him to the
barge deck.
Cold and becoming numb, Dawson
climbed and was aided from the water
back to the deck. A bar pilot helicopter
responded soon and lowered a sling
that was used to lift Schmelzer from
the water. He was taken ashore and
then to the hospital, where he was
admitted for treatment. Dawson also
was taken to the hospital, where he
was treated for cold-water immersion.
Both men recovered.
Last year, Dawson also received a
Silver Lifesaving Medal for his actions.
The Silver Lifesaving Medal is one of
the Coast Guard’s highest and rarelypresented
honors.
HANDS UP!
Jim Mossman rigs up a howitzer
artillery piece — one of five shipped
through Foss Terminal in Seattle on
July 10 and 11 — so that it can be lifted
onto a flat-bed truck and hauled to a
military base in California. The howitzers,
each 24 feet long and weighing
nearly 16,000 pounds, were carried to
Seattle from Okinawa on the Coastal
Transportation ship Coastal Venture.
A small crane and an airplane cargoloading
ramp also were part of the
shipment. John Tarabochia was the
Foss crane operator and Terminal
Manager Spencer O’Grady supervised
the operation.